Farage is a massive hypocrite. What happened to standing up to corporations?
Is Nigel Farage the biggest hypocrite in Britain? Judge for yourself.
Throughout the EU referendum campaign, the UKIP leader trashed the ‘multi-nationals’ and ‘big business’, posing as a defender of the interests of the working class.
He repeated this sentiment last week when he joined US presidential hopeful Donald Trump on the campaign trail, saying ‘the little people’ who voted for Brexit managed to ‘overcome the multinationals’.
But now that one of the world’s largest corporations has been fined 13 billion euros by the EU Commission for tax evasion, Farage weeps only for big business.
Asked on Talk Radio today whether Apple should pay more tax, the champion of the little guy replied:
‘In this particular case, Apple, as a very small company, went to Ireland to try and domicile there, for corporation tax purposes, and did a deal with the Irish government.
Whether we agree with that deal, whether we agree with that principle or not, legally, that they did, both sides of it, the Irish government and Apple, was entirely correct and within the law.’
Take that, corporations!
Farage instead turned his ire on an overweening EU Commission for violating national governments’ sovereign right to offer companies sweetheart deals on taxation, adding: ‘there’s something wrong with that’.
He went on to say the ruling could be an opportunity for a newly independent Britain:
‘What retrospective taxation like this does is it puts off investors from putting money anywhere in the European Union.
So actually, for post-Brexit Britain, it’s very good news indeed.’
Whatever could he mean? Farage dispels any doubt, suggesting corporation tax (and others) should be low so big multinationals feel welcome:
‘I think a post-Brexit Britain should have a very competitive tax rate and be encouraging as many countries as possible to come and headquarter in our country.’
When pressed, he called for a flat tax for all business, a policy outlined in last year’s UKIP general election manifesto.
Not content with all this pandering to big business, Farage even provided a defence of corporate welfare, saying with admirable candour:
‘You could argue it’s state aid. You could argue that these are incentives – but hey, if it’s your country, what on earth is wrong with giving people incentives to come and invest in your company, pay taxes in your country and indeed, employ people?’
The Freudian slips here are worth noting. Corporate welfare is described as ‘giving people incentives’, with the word ‘people’ humanising massive corporate giants. (As a former presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, once erroneously said: ‘Corporations are people’.)
Meanwhile, the mix up of ‘country’ and ‘company’, so that the government is using tax money to seduce these firms to ‘come and invest in your company’, neatly reveals where ex-City broker Farage’s class loyalties lie.
All in all, the outgoing UKIP jockey proves yet again the hollowness of Tory populism – a regular subject here at Left Foot Forward – whereby a politician can come from a rally with a billionaire to tell us that Apple – Apple – is being treated unfairly, call for massive tax cuts and handouts to corporations, and still pose as a man of the people taking on the establishment.
As Farage says himself during the interview, (referring to the EU), ‘There is an awful lot of hypocrisy going on here’. It’s about time people started calling the faux-populists out on this – and presenting an alternative.
Adam Barnett is staff writer for Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter @AdamBarnett13
See: Apple Tax: Record €13bn fee can help slam the door on sweetheart deals
9 Responses to “Nigel Farage wants to cut taxes for big firms like Apple – some man of the people!”
Gordon Stewart
Slashing taxes is good for the consumer I wouldve thought so……yes Nage Farage IS looking after the ordinary guy, only a statist thinks that the state can spend others money better than themselves. BTW we are long overdue a tax riot in this country
ShagBag
After decades watching financial markets, I’ve come to the conclusion that “survival of the fittest” in the corporate world trends towards taxing the shareholder rather than the corporation. Like it or not, corporations aren’t altruistic. They don’t like paying tax. They prefer the tax burden lies with the shareholder, not the company. For over 60 years Miller and Modigliani have yet to be rebuffed.
Edo
Farage like Drumpf is a farce!
fake
Nice spin article article, very good.
Why not stick to the ‘facts’ (evidence based blog?) and just stick to what was actually said without your own interpretation added on (I.e. LYING).
At no point does he agree with the Irish sweetheart deal (0.5% tax or even less), just that it was a legal sovereign decision which should be respected, but you just gloss over that point……you know, the very point of the UKIP ideal (whether you agree with it or not, <hope you understand what that means this time, you did quote it and fail the first time).
What he said is we should offer a flat competitive rate, everything from their is your own assumptions and hyperbole.
Poor quality article, stuffed with bias and spin.
Gwendog
It’s sad that the liberal economic neo-cons can’t accept their brave new world of markets is yesterday’s ideology. The smugness with which they cling on to the small government Hayekian narrative appears to be repeated over and again to give themselves a sense of control in a world where global monopolies are the rule and the myth of low taxation as democratic a desperate fairy story they want to believe in.